FAU's 11th Annual Global Shemin Trialogue

The Trialogue was founded to encourage communication and understanding between the three Abrahamic faiths.


By polly burks | 3/1/2017

Florida Atlantic University presents the 11th annual Global Shemin Trialogue Seminar titled “Listening to or Silencing the Other: A Contemporary Challenge to the Abrahamic Trialogue.”  The event will be held on Sunday, March 12 at 4 p.m. in the University Theatre, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton campus. It is free and open to the public and no reservations are required.

Founded to encourage communication and understanding between the three Abrahamic faiths, this year’s trialogue will be moderated by Alan Berger, the Raddock Family Eminent Scholar Chair in Holocaust Studies in FAU’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, and includes: 

  • Yossi Klein Halevi, senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. Halevi served as a visiting professor of Israel Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York in the fall of 2013. He is a former contributing editor of the New Republic and writes for the op-ed pages of leading American newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
  • Rev. Mario Emilio Malián serves with the 482nd Fighter Wing, Homestead Air Reserve Base, in addition to being rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Parish (church and school). He was born in Cuba where he began his seminary studies, and pursued further theological study in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. After coming to the United States, he graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies degree with concentrations in religious studies, small business and electrical-electronics engineering.
  • Haroon Moghul is a Ph.D. candidate at Columbia University in Middle Eastern, South Asian and African studies. His research focus is Islamic reformism in South Asia. Haroon served as associate editor at Religion Dispatches, and has written for Foreign Policy, al-Jazeera, and Today’s Zaman (Turkish). Haroon is a fellow in Muslim politics and societies at the Center on National Security at Fordham Law and is on the board of the Multicultural Audience Initiative at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
  • Rabbi David Steinhardt is the senior rabbi at B’nai Torah Congregation. He has served the Boca Raton community for more than 20 years in that position and in many other areas. At B’nai Torah, he has lead synagogue growth witnessed by a large membership and a Shabbat attendance that rivals any congregation in the world.
  • Rev. Andrew James Sherman was born in New York City and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from American University. He also received a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Virginia and completed theological training at Virginia Theological Seminary, where he earmed his Master of Divinity degree. In 2005, Sherman began his ministry as rector of St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in Boca Raton.

“The Shemin Trialogue is an invaluable asset for those wishing to participate meaningfully in conversation about interfaith relations,” said Berger. “These conversations are increasingly important in our time. Carried out by informed people of good will, such discussion can make an enormous contribution in our search for a peaceful world.”

The Shemin Trialogue is the creation of Rhoda and Emanuel (Manny) Shemin, local residents who have taken a special interest in opening lines of communication on the subject of Christian, Islamic and Jewish relations. Manny passed away on Jan. 30, 2009. His wife is dedicated to continuing the trialogue and bringing together internationally-known religious leaders to further dialogue and education.  The event is cosponsored by the Raddock Family Eminent Scholar Chair in Holocaust Studies and the Center for the Study of Values and Violence after Auschwitz in FAU’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, along with the Boca Raton Interfaith Clergy Association.

For more information, call 561-297-2979.

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